For many electronics devices, it may be desirable to provide an interface with an external device or network. This could be a connection to a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), the internet, a wire connection to a remote device using a coaxial cable or twisted pair cable, etc., or any other desired wireless or wired network. For example, it might be desirable to connect a television set to a WLAN so that its audio can be sent wirelessly to remote speakers; or it might be desirable to connect a digital camera to a WPAN so that its image data can be wirelessly downloaded to a personal computer; or it might even be desirable to connect a video camera to an Ethernet connection to send data to a remote device.
One way to implement this functionality is to provide a separate module for the device that will serve to facilitate the communication between the local device and the desired external device or network. This module will pass signals between the local device and the external device or network, handling all necessary data conversion to and from the different formats used by the local device and by the external device or network.
One parameter that can be of particular importance is the output power of the signal being sent by the module to the external device or network. In many situations, this power must be within a desired range. If the power is too high, then it might either overwhelm the receiver, or it might violate an imposed power level restriction. If the power is too low, the signal might be too faint for the external device or network to properly receive.
However, since different devices have different device parameters, each device may have different internal power requirements for the module it uses, even if the devices themselves desire the same level of power output for the desired transmission media. One device might operate using an antenna with a very small gain for signals sent externally by the module. In this case, the module must output a high power signal to make certain the signal radiated by the antenna will be at the proper power level. Contrarily, if a device employs operates using a high gain antenna for any signals sent externally by the module, the module should output a comparatively lower-powered signal to make certain the signal radiated by the antenna will be at the proper power level.
As a result, a separate module must be designed and tested for each device. And individual modules can't be used with any device save the one they were designed for. This is difficult from a manufacturing standpoint because a manufacturer may have to custom make a large number of different wireless modules for all of the devices that use a module. Each module must be tailored to its intended device to provide the desired level of output power to a particular output source. And using the wrong module could result in an incorrect output power, causing the interface with the external device or network to fail, or perhaps causing the data transmission to violate a set power requirement. As a result it can be difficult for a module maker to achieve certain economies of scale.
It can also be difficult for a device manufacturer to keep a desired level of inventory control for modules if it manufactures multiple devices that could interface with external devices or networks. And it raises the problem of improper modules being used by device manufacturers, resulting in incorrect operation of the devices.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a module design that would enable a single module to be used with multiple different devices, each with arbitrary couplings to the transmission media.